Budget. The leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest have established a series of measures to counter the budget deficit. According to the Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, they include the elimination of the 200,000 vacancies in the budget sector, the reduction of the number of management positions in the public system and the capping of management allowances in state companies. Moreover, adjusting royalties in keeping with the inflation rate is considered. The Speaker of the Senate, the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă, has stated that that in state-owned companies the number of councilors will be halved, and the administrative boards will have a maximum of seven members. In the future, holiday vouchers will be granted only to employees in the public sector whose monthly gross salaries are lower than 10 thousand lei.
Medical care. Pregnant women in Romania will no longer have to pay for their tests if they do not have medical insurance or if the laboratories have exhausted their monthly ceiling for free tests. The National Health Insurance House has announced that it has increased funding for preventive medical investigations in these cases. At the first visit, the doctor can register the patient and issue a document certifying the existence of the pregnancy. If the person is uninsured, they can become insured during pregnancy and childbirth by simply submitting the respective certificate to the Health Insurance House in whose records they are, without any other expenses.
Vehicles. The local segment of the car scrapping program known as “Rablaˮ started on Monday in an effort by the Romanian authorities to get heavily polluting vehicles out of circulation. The owners get some 600 Euro in exchange, without being obliged to buy a new vehicle. Apart from the funds provided by the Environment Ministry, local authorities contribute 20% of the vouchers granted to citizens who de-register cars older than 15 years. The Environment Minsitry has earmarked some 50 million Euro for this program and estimates that around 100,000 polluting cars will be scrapped.
Training. The training ship Mircea has returned to the military port of Constanţa, after a 28-day training session in the Mediterranean. On board were 64 sophomore students with the “Mircea cel Bătrân” Naval Academy, as well as 10 exchange students from partner academies in Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Latvia, Italy and Spain. The training ship had stopovers in the ports of Piraeus in Greece, Taranto in Italy and Izmir in Turkey, and completed an over 2,200 mile journey.
Concert. On Sunday night, the Bucharest National Opera orchestra performed for the first time at the Musikverein hall in Vienna, which hosts the traditional New Years concert in the Austrian capital city. The concert was a tribute to the Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu, as the year 2023 was declared the year of Ciprian Porumbescu, to mark 170 years since the birth and 140 years since the death of the famous composer. The program consisted exclusively of works by Ciprian Porumbescu: “New Moon,” the first Romanian operetta, the “Ballad,” the “Romanian Rhapsody.” The soloists, choir and orchestra of the National Opera House in Bucharest were conducted by Daniel Jinga, with special guests including maestro Gheorghe Zamfir and the soloist Maria Coman.
Ukraine. Ukraine has confirmed that Saudi Arabia will host a peace summit aimed, according to Kyiv, at restoring peace in line with the “Ukrainian formula,” EFE reports. According to the head of Ukraines presidential office Andriy Yermak, apart from guaranteeing peace for Ukraine, the 10-point formula will create mechanisms to counter future conflicts. For Kyiv, the formula includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. According to Western diplomats, the choice of Saudi Arabia to host the talks is designed to facilitate the participation of China, which has good relations with Moscow and with Riyadh. (MI)
